Feb. 21, 2012: NAHB’s List of Improving Housing Markets Expands to Nearly 100 Metro Areas
WASHINGTON — The list of housing markets showing measurable improvement expanded by 29 metro areas in February to include a total of 98 entries on the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/First American Improving Markets Index (IMI). Thirty-six states are now represented by at least one metropolitan market on the list.
The index identifies metropolitan areas that have shown improvement from their respective troughs in housing permits, employment, and house prices for at least six consecutive months. The February index adds some metropolitan areas that have been particularly weak; this is due to the fact that the IMI measures improvement from a bottom, and some of the hardest hit markets are showing signs of coming off of extreme lows. Keeping this in mind, notable new entrants to the list in February include Boston; Detroit; Kansas City, Mo.; Memphis, Tenn.; Miami; Portland, Ore.; and Salt Lake City.